Exmoor Photography Gallery & Camera
Shop
The High Street, Porlock, Somerset
T: 01643 862026
Contact Jack for competitive price and
stock status
CANON POWERSHOT SX240 HS CAMERA
JACKS REVIEW
‘Please note,
these reviews are my opinion on the cameras that I stock and sell, the reviews
are not meant to be full blown technical reviews and I do not post any test
images on line, they are designed to give you some assistance (in laymans
terms, as requested by my customers) when choosing a camera that is right for
you. I try to keep them as simple and short as possible.
These reviews
are the result of requests from my customers.’
THANKS JACK
I have just printed
off some test prints from this camera and I can’t see any real difference
between the wide-angle image and the print at full optical zoom 20x colour wise
they are both excellent. The DIGIC 5 Processor delivers beautiful colours,
which are a near perfect match to the scene as photographed.
The image at full
zoom is a fraction softer but still one of the sharpest prints I have yet scene
from a compact camera in this class. I took all the images in full auto and the
camera metering system has performed very well with very bright contrasty
lighting conditions. Edge to edge sharpness is good and shadow lighting and
highlights are superb. Yes, I did say superb, not a word I use that often but
this little beauty deserves it! The depth of my results and the detail is
incredible. I sometimes find that the white balance on Canon cameras can be a
little hit and miss, but this one has produced nicely toned, coloured images
straight off the camera.
Build Quality
& Design
The camera has a
nicely designed metal casing that feels solid in the hand. Considering it’s housing a 20x optical zoom lens the body is
surprisingly small. On the top of the camera you have a big shutter button,
which I like surrounded by the zoom control. Both are easy to use and you can
easily make minor adjustments to the zoom setting. The shutter button feels
nice and firm and allows you to focus quickly without accidently taking photos
all the time. Next to the shutter button is the camera on & off button,
which is slightly recessed to prevent accidentally turning off the camera. The
pop up flash is also housed on the top of the camera, to the left hand side.
It’s a shame they couldn’t have moved it over slightly because you have to
remember to keep your fingers out of the way when it pops up. Not the end of
the world but still a bit annoying. Moving to the back
of the camera, you immediately notice the lovely big 3” screen. During my test
in bright sunshine, I found it easy to see the image I was taking. It produces
a very sharp clear image of what you are looking at and I had no difficulty at
all composing my pictures. Next to the screen
on the back of the camera you will find all the cameras controls including the
main setting dial, video short cut (start/stop), play back button, display and
menu buttons. The main control dial feels tight and will not easily be
accidently changed. The settings include, live mode, full auto, beginners mode,
aperture & shutter priority, program, manual, manual scene selection mode,
creative mode & manual video mode.There is also a
function set button with a control dial around it, you can use this dial to
adjust a plethora of settings depending on what mode you are shooting in. You
will also find short cuts to bracketing (exposure compensation), macro (close
up photography) settings, flash settings and the self - timer.
Performance &
Use
I know I am familiar
with Canons compact camera layout, but this one is incredibly easy to use, the
menus and accessing them is straightforward and just seems to make sense! Not
forgetting of course if you don’t want to adjust anything you don’t have to,
during my test in full auto (point and shoot) mode the camera returned very
nice images that are beautifully coloured, exposed and sharp. Canons new Digic 5
image processor is superb.
The camera had no
problems focusing and was extremely quick. There is also no noticeable delay
between pressing the shutter and image capture.
I also want to
mention the image stabilization built into the camera, this worked extremely
well and was noticeable when I zoomed to 20x optical, it works very well at
helping to keep the image steady while I was composing the picture. I have
noticed in the past that other compacts with large zooms the image ‘jumps’
about all over the place making it difficult to lock onto to what you are
trying to photograph. Not so, with this camera it was a pleasure to use with no
noticeable ‘wobble’ at all.
The camera also
has a very good subject tracking system, which you can select to focus on a
specific subject/point and then move the camera (or the subject) and it stays
locked on. I was showing this to a customer the other day and it impressed both
of us, obviously, it takes a bit of practice but it seemed to work very well.
The face
recognition technology also works well, easily recognising faces and locking
on, it even focused on a small picture I have of a Fox in the shop while I was
testing it!
I also took a
short video clip with the camera, I have to admit I haven’t played it back on a
large screen but it did look very sharp and clear on the camera screen, I have
read in an another review that you can’t zoom in while taking video, well you
can I tried it and it did! I like the short cut button on the camera that
allows you start and stop shooting video without having to go into a menu to do
so and possibly miss the moment!
Conclusion
This camera is my
favourite compact cameras in its class at the moment, I actually prefer it to
the Panasonic TZ30 its closest rival. Both very capable cameras but I think the
Canon produces slightly better pictures. The SX240 has strong construction, is
very easy to set up and use, has great picture quality and its low light
performance is pretty good. I really like the image stabilization and the
screen is very bright and sharp. If you want a camera that you can carry around
in your pocket that has the equivalent to a 500mm lens (in 35mm terms), then
this is definitely one to consider.
Thanks
Jack
·
20x zoom,
25mm wide-angle lens; compact body (35mm equivalent 25 – 500)
·
HS
System: 12.1 MP CMOS and DIGIC 5 with iSAPS technology
·
Monitor 7.5
cm (3.0”) PureColor II G (TFT). Approx. 461,000 dots
·
Intelligent
IS
·
Full HD
movies
·
7.5 cm
(3.0") PureColor II G LCD
·
Smart
Auto (58 scenes)
·
Face ID
·
Manual,
Av and Tv modes
·
High-speed
shooting
·
Focus
Type TTL
·
AF
System/ Points
·
Face
Detection, 1-point AF (fixed to centre)
·
AF Modes Single, Continuous, Servo AF/AE¹, Tracking AF
·
AF Point
Selection
·
AF Lock
·
AF Assist
Beam Yes
·
Manual
Focus Yes
·
Closest
Focusing Distance 5 cm (W) from front of lens in macro
·
Built in
flash Yes
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